When my husband and I were first starting out we sat down at the beginning of every month and wrote down how much our pay checks were and subtracted all the bills we had for the month. That showed how much was left over, we decided how much was for savings, how much for eating out, etc. it really helped us to save some every month and watch our spending.
We still do it albeit more loosely now. Also whenever we got raises we put them in our 401k's instead of getting used to spending them. Now we both are maxing out our retirement accounts. I got a late start in college due to bring a JW, but I was able to pay for a Bachelors degree by working and some scholarships. And I became the coupon queen back in those days :-)